Daily Mail
September 13, 2015
A motorist who mowed down an RAF veteran was speeding at 56mph in a 30mph zone because he was late for work at Poundland.
Gurpreet Sandhu, 27, of Handsworth, Birmingham, was listening to loud music when he hit 91-year-old John Downes.
The pensioner, who had served with the RAF and had seen service in India, was walking to a bookmakers to place his daily bet when he was hit in Sutton Coldfield town centre at 10.30am on November 8 last year.
Shocking footage shown to the court shows Mr Downes being catapulted into the air by the force of the impact.
A court heard Mr Downes was rushed to Heartlands Hospital with a number of injuries including a bleed to the brain and three fractured ribs.
He made a ‘surprising’ recovery and fought off a liver and kidney infection before being discharged in December.
But tragically the pensioner’s condition deteriorated and he died three months after the crash on February 16 this year.
Sandhu, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
He was jailed for three years and banned from driving for seven years when he was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.
Sentencing him, Judge Peter Carr said Sandhu was doing an average of 56mph in a 30mph zone.
He added: ‘You were late for work and it was raining heavily.